The primary objective of Core A going fon/vard will be to expand opportunities for the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and their collaborators to pursue programs of excellence in research and research training that are relevant to the NICHD priorities outlined in RFA HD-09-012. Our previous objective was to create what is in essence a new IDD Center at UMMS by integrating its programs with those of formerly free-standing MRDDRC and UCEDD programs located mainly at the Shriver Center. That decade-long process is now virtually complete. The IDD Center at UMMS is now a visible reality rather than merely an attractive possibility. Because we have established the necessary central university supports and partnerships, we are now positioned to take full advantage of the outstanding resources of our university home and its clinical partner, the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Thus, one might also conceptualize our primary objective as doing that as rapidly, efficiently, and completely as possible.